Over the years, Bangladesh has achieved laudable successes in the use of clean and renewable energy sources.

According to the recently released "Renewables 2017 Global Status Report” by the Paris-based energy think-tank, REN21, Bangladesh is one of the leading countries in the world for use of clean energy. We have done remarkably well in terms of installing solar home systems (SHSs) and biogas plants and replacing conventional cook stoves with clean ones.

Out of the 6 million SHSs installed globally, Bangladesh has the largest share with more than 4 million, and expanding further at a speedy rate. Microcredit has been credit for helping the fast installation rate of SHSs in off-grid areas of the country. This expansion has also created employment opportunities in the sector. Currently, 2.86% of all power generated in the country comes from renewable energy, including solar power, which the Government intends to boost to 10% by 2021.

Mini-grids and stand-alone energy systems are evolving rapidly, as is the growth of pay-as-you-go business models supported by mobile technology.The report also states that in 2012, investments in solar companies using these technologies were only $3 million (2.6 million euros). By 2015, that figure had risen to $158 million, growing to $223 million in 2016.

The country also stands 5th in installing clean cooking stoves. Number of such clean stoves rose from 17 million in 2014 to 20 million in 2015, an 18% rise. 500,000 clean cooking stoves were installed in 2014 in Bangladesh, which rose to 700,000 the next year. Bangladesh reduced its import duty on improved stoves by 10 percent, making the stoves more cost-competitive, the report observed.

Bangladesh also belongs in the list of top 5 countries for installing domestic biogas plants. The number of biogas plants stands at 45,610 currently in Bangladesh.

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